Fracture
by RecRewind
Summary: Jetstorm is hurt in a training accident, but while Jetfire's sparks is telling him to stay close to his brother he fears consequences, because of something they were told long ago. It's up to Jazz to make things right. Jetfire/Jetstorm   Jazz.


**AN:** Setting for this is some time after Jetfire and Jetstorm joined the Elite Guard, before they first combined into Safeguard. There's possibly some oocness, it's been a long while since I've written something TFA-related.

Any comment and criticism welcomed. Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>FRACTURE<strong>

It had been a stupid accident. The twins had jumped on the opportunity to challenge themselves with the real deal, not the boring virtual training they were usually put through. Flying through a simulated solar hurricane, hitting on moving targets... a piece of energon, really. They had quarrelled mockingly, as usual, daring each other to more and more complicated manouvers till Jetstorm was a nanoclick too slow and ended crashing against one of the reactors used for the simulation. The huge machinery collapsed and Jetstorm's right arm and leg were crushed, the aftershock of the blow hard enough to put him into temporary stasis lock, so he was taken to the medical facility for repairs, under the care of doctors who always looked more eager to tear the twinbots apart than to fix them up.

At first Jetfire had tried to follow his brother, complaining loudly when he was forced out of the operating room so they could work in peace. Soon enough, though, the young bot had found himself pacing back and forth restlessly, the need to get close to his wounded brother growing stronger than ever with every cycle. The pain Jetstorm was put through the accident resonated into his brother's chest, with short, aching pulses into Jetfire's sparkchamber. He had to tear himself away from there. Before something terrible happened.

He walked down the Elite Guard headquarter's corridors and halls, mindless of the direction. Anywhere was good as long as it put some distance between him and the other half of his spark. It did nothing to soothe the pain, but it was safer that way. It had to be.

Nobody tried to approach him. Word about the accident had spread around, and everybody he met probably ascribed his distressed expression to concern for the well-being of his brother. They were right, though nobody could really understand the extent of it.

Finally he entered the vast room that served as cyber-ninjitsu dojo. He and his brother spent decacycle after decacycle there earnestly wishing they were somewhere else, but at least it was a place where few autobots would disturb him. He sat down in the center of the room, then stood up and paced around, then knelt down again.

Stupid brother, he thought. Why did that numb node had to go and get his aft handed like that?

He bended forward, his forehead piece hitting the floor with a loud clank, and groaned. This was going nowhere and he wasn't any close to distract himself from what was happening than before. Maybe if he tried focusing on some of those unsufferably complicated metallikato routines senior officer Jazz always bore them with... He rummaged in his memory to remember a starting pose. Standing up once again he positioned himself, one pede in front of the other, the back one slightly tilted externally to the right. He levelled up his servos in front of his faceplate and took a step swinging both servos the side...

"You should regolarize you intakes before startin'."

Jetfire almost stumbled on his own pedes. He spinned, turning to the dojo entrance and saw Jazz leaning against the side of the automatic door, smiling. The orange bot threw up his servos, exasperated. "It's difficult!" he exclaimed. Then he remembered the 'senior officer' part and stood to attention, bringing his servo up to salute. Jazz chuckled, signaling him to relax. He walked inside the dojo, the door shutting beside his back with a whirring noise. Once standing in front of the other bot he saluted him with a bow, the ninja way.

"Dig some sparrin'?"

Jetfire considered the offer. It might have proven a good distraction. Fighting against the ninja without Jetstorm meant really working his aft. Together they would have beaten him in three cycles, he would bet his headpiece on that, but alone...

Just thinking about Jetstorm sent a renewed wave of anguish shooting up from his spark, and the bot powered down his optics, cringing. When he powered them up again he saw Jazz was observing him close, his visor flashing in sympathy.

"Heard 'bout the accident. I bet you are worrying your hard drive out but you shouldn't. They will fix 'Storm up in no time."

Jetfire nodded, unsure.

"Hey, did the docs kick you out? 'Cause if you want to stay close to your brother I can say 'em a word and..."

"No!" Jetfire shook his head vehemently. "No, that would not be a good idea! It's better if I...stay away". He avoided meeting the other's visor with his optics.

Jazz stared at him, taken aback by the sudden outburst. Jetfire felt his gaze weighing on him, like the ninja was analyzing something. He felt a familiar rush of shame washing over him. Even if Jazz couldn't know...

"Hey kid..." Jetfire risked a glance up. Jazz moved a couple of steps closer and placed a servo on the young bot's shoulder. His voice was low and reassuring. "What's the matter? I can read your energy patterns, they're all fragged up like crazy."

"I'm ok..."

"No, you ain't ok. There's something up, and it's eating you inside, I can see that. Maybe I can do something about it. And even if I cant, worries shared worries halved, as they say..."

Jetfire shook his head again, feeling helpless. Jazz couldn't do a thing about it. Nobody could. He felt his own spark being dragged thin and tearing up at the edges. Somewhere, Jetstorm's spark felt just the same, he knew it, and there was nothing either of them could do. He stood there, servos clenching and unclenching. Jazz's servo on his shoulder tightened slightly, offering what comfort he could, and Jetfire leant into the touch. His spark surged, reaching up to something, anything, in sudden desperation. He had to stop thinking about Jetstorm, that would do no good for either of them. He looked straight into Jazz's visor, finding in the older bot gaze only gentle concern. Before he knew it, Jetfire's arms shoot up and wrapped around the ninja, and he buried his faceplate against the other's chestpiece. The ninja returned the embrace, surprised, but set on giving the young bot all the support he needed. It took only a few nanoclicks for his spark to react to the peculiar pattern of energy emanating from the other mech's body. Jazz's spark pulsed weakly, sending a small ripple of excitement down his spinal chord sensors, and a huge warning signal to his brain module.

"Whoah...!" the ninja pulled back, bewildered, and Jetfire followed close. The momentum sent Jazz stumbling back and down on his aft, with wrapped around his torso, reaching to the ninjabot with all of himself. Searching for something to respond to the almost panicked call of his spark. The orange bot flattened against Jazz, servos looking for somewhere to cling at, he pressed his faceplate aganist Jazz's neck, optics shut down tight.

"Hey, hey, hey, 'Fire! Slow down...!" Jetfire felt himself being pushed away, firmly. His optics flashed in confusion as Jazz stared back at him, his servos on Jetfire's shoulders. Then Jetfire realized he was sitting on his superior officer's lap.

Oh. Frag.

He scrambled back as quickly as he could, faceplate burning energon pink in shame. What the pit was he doing? "I'm sorry!" he stuttered. "I... I'm..." He basically assaulted a superior officer! If that didn't mean he and his sorry skidplate were both fragged...

"Calm down. 'Fire, it's ok." Jazz almost reached to him, then he thought better. The off-scale, rippling energy patterns coming from the bot in front of him were clear now. To Jazz's sensor, Jetfire read as a mech ready to bond, but that simply made no sense. It took preparation together with a partner for one's spark to get to that point. Prolonging the process too much or separating mechs halfway through it turned everything into excruciating suffering instead of blissful pleasure, and then the charged exhausted itself through the mech's system, painfully so. Mechs just didn't... walk around like that. How could Jetfire even function properly?

"I didn't mean to do that, sir, I swear it! I just... I mean..." Jetfire didn't look any closer to put together some resemblance of an explanation for his behavior.

"I know. Hey, look at me. Everything's fine..."

The look in Jetfire's optics was saying it wasn't. He looked desperate, just a tad away from pankicking. Jazz felt his spark surge again to the other, but there was only sorrow and need to understand in it this time. He spoke as gently as he could.

"'Fire, please, tell me what's happening. You are hurting and I want to help, but I need to know what's going on."

"...I don't..."

"I won't tell anybody if you don't want me to. I'm good at keeping secrets. Remember that time you and 'Storm broke Sentinel's shooting trophy and put it back together with cyberglue, with half the pieces missing? I never said a word."

"He didn't even notice..." the memory brought a small smile to Jetfire's lip components. He and Jetstorm had spent nearly a cycle throwing blame back and forth and calling each other the worst names they could come up with, while searching Sentinel's office for the scattered pieces. They had been lucky Jazz was the one to walk in there, that time...

Jazz grinned. "Believe me, 'Fire. You can tell me everything. I will listen and I won't judge you."

Jetfire wanted to believe him, he really did. He wanted so bad to lift the weight off his and Jetstorm's spark. At the same time, guilt and shame wrecked him, shattering his resolve. There was no chance Jazz would have regarded both of them the same way, if he knew the truth. They could have been kicked out of the Elite Guard, and if Jetstorm was still in need of repairs...

The ninja waited patiently, reading the inner conflict on Jetfire's faceplate. Finally, the orange bot reached some kind of resolution. He gathered his legs to his chestpiece, hugging his knee-joints tight, optics firmly glued to the floor. Jazz scooted a little closer, careful to keep himself out of Jetfire's personale place, and sat with his legs crossed.

"Me and Jetstorm..." the orange bot started, then stopped, uncertain.

"Easy. Take all the time you need."

Jetfire nodded, then he went again. "We were told our activation was weird. That there was a spark with two cores, something nobody had ever heard about before, and when it was put into a protoform it split up, just like that, and those protoforms developped into, you know, us." Jazz nodded encouragingly. The team of scientists who analyzed them had reached more or less the same conclusion, regarding their origin. Nobody knew how that had happened. Some scientists would have been all too happy to tear the twins apart to the last piece to discover their secret and to find out if it was replicable, Jazz thought with an inner grimace. Luckily for the twins, they were too precious of an asset to the Autobot military forces for that to happen.

"We don't know if that's the reason, but for as long as we can remember we have always needed to be close to each other. I mean, I like Jetstorm, even if he's an empty headpiece that talk exhausted energon, sometimes. I would want to stick to him anyway..." Jetfire's smile was both fond and sad. "...but what I mean is that we... really need it. Like we need to refuel in order to live, you get it? And we... our sparks hurt if we are separated for too long. When we are together we feel good, but sometimes we also feel like... it's not enough." The bot sighed. Here came the difficult part...

"Once we tried to..." He placed his servo on his chestpiece, feeling it throb. "We opened up. To each other. We didn't really know what to do, but we were doing what ifelt right. And that did."

"You and 'Storm merged your sparks?" Jazz asked, fascinated despite himself.

"No. You can say we were trying, I guess" He shivered, thinking about the danger they were running at the time, unbeknowst to them. "Back then we lived with Codetracer, the bot who was appointed our caretaker. You see, our protoform took a while to fully develop, and since we were... a bit odd, for anybody's standard, those in charge decided to put someone to look after us till we were considered capable of taking care of ourselves." Or not a danger to anyone. Jetfire felt not much love for the mech who had spent nearly every cycle making clear he was seeing to them only because he was paid to do that, but still, he had taken care of them, and the twins were grateful for that. "He... walked on us in that moment."

*_The twins were kneeling in front of each other, servos holding on their respective arms, as they let the magnetic pull between their sparks draw them closer. The combined light, shaded in yellow and light blue, shone on their mesmerized faceplates, pulsing softly. Luminous tendrils reached out and weaved into each other._

_Suddenly, the two small bots were grabbed by the back of their necks, servos almost crushing their plating as they were yanked violently away from each other. The overlapping edges of their sparks were ripped apart. The twins cried in unison at the tearing, a keen, spark-gutting sound._

_"WHAT THE FRAG ARE YOU DOING?" the voice roared in their audio sensors. The twins looked up, optics flashing in fear. Codetracer stared back at them, nothing but utter disgust on his faceplate. Jetfire and Jetstorm were sobbing, trying to reach and grab their servos, but the big mech kept them separated. "Close yourself!" Shaking, the twins did as they were told. Codetracer let them go and the two bots hugged tight, harsh intakes wrecking their frames._

_"You disgusting little glitches..."*_

"...he told us how bad was what we were trying to do. He said that it was wrong to try and merge our sparks again, because they were a single one once, and that from that moment we had to be very careful not to get that close again, since that might cause a terrible malfunction, and we could make the other offline. Like, permanently. So we did. We did our best. But sometimes it's so difficult... like right now. I feel brother hurting so very much, and all I want is to stay right next to him, and hug him, and I know he wants the same. I know it. But... when we feel like this it's hard to fight off the impulse, it's like our sparks are trying to rip themselves out of our chest, to get closer... and if we can't resist something terrible might happen, I might be the one... to hurt him... I don't want that to happen..."

Jetfire's voice trailed over. Coolant was gathering into his optics. He looked small and miserable.

"He also said that we should never talk about it to anybody, because what we tried to do was such a an immoral thing, and that if we did they might decide to separate us for good... this is not what's going to happen, right? You promised..." the bot gave Jazz a frightened look.

Jazz wished he had that Codetracer jerk right under his servos, so he could show him circuit su style how not to treat young bots. He was pretty sure that in his place he would have interrupted the twins too, if only because bonding wasn't something to go easy about, without knowing its meaning and importance, and the twins situation was complicated enough. But from that it was a long way to scarring the two bots' brain-modules for all their activated life with scary lies, preventing them from exploring any kind of intimity, or share that experience with someone who could give them much needed advice and reassurance...!

"Of course it won't happen. You don't have to worry about that. You and 'Storm will never be taken away from each other, not if I have a say in the matter" the ninja-bot said firmly. Jetfire shot him a grateful look.

"And about all this..." Jazz took a long intake, reaching for some place into his mind to draw calm and clear judgement from. He thought about Master Yoketron, about the way he would have dealt with all this. The old bot always had a wise word about everything... Jazz wished he could ask him what to do. But he could not, and he had to be the one to know the best, or at least the better thing to do, on his own.

"'Fire, there was nothing 'immoral' in what you and 'Storm tried to do back then. It might have been dangerous, simply because spark-merging is something that should not be attempted lightly, but the fact you were never properly educated about it is to blame, not your willingness to experiment. Again, what you did was not wrong." Jazz put emphasis on his words.

Jetfire stared at him, in disbelief. "But Codetracer..."

"Was probably a bigot, and someone who wasn't prepared to care for two young bots like you and your brother. I think he made the best job he could, but I bet he was also someone who couldn't even say the word 'interfacing' aloud. I know his kind" He had met mechs like him, even bach at the ninja dojo. Mechs believing sparkbonds should be endured as a way to produce a stronger society, instead that enjoyed as acts of love, a way of giving and receiving pleasure together with the most important person in your activated life. Not to mention the pure horror they would have felt at the simple mention of other ways of exchanging pleasure, through different kind of stimulations...

Jazz's words made Jetfire chuckle, the portrait fitted Codetrace all too well. The ninja smiled at the reaction. He reached to brush Jetfire's faceplate in an affectionate gesture, and the bot nuzzled back, innocently, then his optics grew worried again and he frowned.

"But what he said about malfunctions..."

"Honestly? I think he made all that part up." Jetfire stared. Jazz lifted his servos, palm plates out. "Hey, your sparks is something rare, so I would definitely double check with Perceptor or someone... but if there's something not working here is the fact you and 'Storm being separated is hurting both of you. I think that mech just didn't want to deal with the situation, so he invented something terrible enough to prevent you from attempting anything again."

Jetfire was trying to take in all of this. "But... but... you mean you think me and Jetstorm could..."

Jazz just smiled. Stunned happiness and concern chased each other on Jetfire's faceplate.

"But what if he was right after all...?"

"As I said, there's something we need to check out before."

.

"There was a 91% probability their sparks were once a single one whose core was fractured for reasons we can't yet ascertain. What you say confirms my analysis." Perceptor spoke without raising his optics from the screens. Jazz suppressed an exasperated intake. Since both Wheeljack and Red Alert were away he preferred to deal with Perceptor than with the other scientists and doctors because, while his lack of emotions was a bit disconcerting, he was the only one among them who at least didn't sound overly eager to rip the twins into small, quantifiable pieces, even if he too seemed to consider them like some sort of ongoing experiment. He simply stated facts and stated them in the most unbiased way possible. The objectivity was something Jazz appreciated, in this case.

"So what do you say about this longing they have? Jetfire told me they've felt the need to merge their sparks since early in their activated life."

"Predictable." The scientist went on typing numers and symbols in the computers, while adding more data through cables directly connected to his brain-module.

Jazz counted to ten nanocliks. "Elaborate?"

"Their sparks signature energy is erratic. They're attracting each other in order to exchange the excess energy and stabilize themselves."

"And the attraction grows stronger when one of the sparks is in danger, of course..."

"Affirmative. It's quite interesting." Perceptor wiped the set of numbers on a screen and started a new set of calculations. "This urge to become one could be exploited for different purposes. Once their sparks stabilize I must run tests and analyze this new set of data. It will take at least one decacycles to come with some projections about battlefield applications. There's the possibility they could develop something comparable to a gestalt powerlink..."

Jazz interrupted the scientist. "Once their sparks stabilize? You mean they could... stabilize them by themselves, without any kind of danger?"

"Affirmative, as far as collected data can tell. The mechanics wouldn't be different from usual spark-merging, though I have to gather more data to assess if it will develop into a normal bond or something different. Of course it would be much preferrable if the stabilizing was to happen in a controlled environment so we can properly measure..."

"Frag the controlled environment." Jazz grinned. "Thanks, Percy, that's all I needed to hear."

.

Jetstorm weighed lighter than his size would have suggested in Jazz's arms as he walked down long corridors, ignoring the curious looks he got. The blue bot body was repaired but he had fallen into deep recharging. Jazz supposed this was because of the physical and emotional strain that was put upon his spark recently. He felt deeply sorry for all that, but he hoped to make things better soon.

Medics had complained about him taking the young bot out of the medical facility, but Jazz had imposed his grade, something he usually didn't use to his advantage, and had threatened to inform Sentinel for good measure (the medics didn't need to know the Prime would have probably disapproved of all this). Perceptor would have explained, and even if he didn't, that wasn't their business. This whole mess was nobody's business but the twins's, really, and Jazz himself wanted only to let them sort everything out on their own as soon as he'd given them some much needed reassurances.

He went straight to the twins's quarters, a room in the residential sector of the huge Elite Guard building, not too far from his own quarters. As he stood in front of the automatic door he felt Jetstorm shift into his arms, mumbling something. Maybe he was reacting to Jetfire's spark getting closer. While they approached the room Jazz had focused on the bot's energy patterns, finding them just as relentlessly erratic as those of his brother. Here was hoping both of them would find some peace soon.

The door slid open and Jazz went inside. The room was a mess, datapads and whatnots scattered around. Jetfire was sitting on the floor, facing the small holoscreen on a wall, faceplate already turned towards the door. He immediately sprang to his pedes. Jazz gave him as reassuring smile as he walked to one of the berth, the less cluttered one. He put Jetstorm down on it, and Jetfire walked next to the berth. He moved warily, some well trained instinct preventing him from getting too close to his brother when one of them was in a state of distress.

"Jetstorm?" he called.

Jetstorm stirred, turning his headpiece towards his brother even before fully powering up his visor. When he did, a smile broke on his faceplate, mirrored by the relieved grin on his twin's.

"Hey, ugly face."

"Hey, stinky bot. They patched you up good?"

"Like new. Wouldn't think some scratches could keep me down, would you?"

"Oh shut up."

Jetstorm pushed himself up to a sitting position, crossing his legs. Jetfire climbed on the berth to sit next to him, reaching up to hug him. Jetstorm returned the hug, before stiffening and pulling himself back a little, with a confused look.

"No worries, bro'!" Jetfire said happily, glancing at Jazz. Jetstorm followed his optics, realizing onlythen Jazz was in the room too.

"Uh... hello, sir?"

"How you feelin', 'Storm?"

"...Good." Jetstorm focused, running some quick internal checks and nodded.

"Betcha it has something to do with the two of you being close to each other."

Jetstorm was about to say something but Jazz held up his hand, still smiling. He sat down on the other berth, pushing some assorted stuff aside to make place, and made himself comfortable. "Ok, you two. Now listen up..."

He repeated Jetstorm what he had already said to Jetfire, who was beaming, and added some information provided by Perceptor. In short, there was no reason the twins had to fight against the urge to merge their sparks anymore, whatever they might do wasn't either wrong or immoral, by no means, and it would do them both a world of good too. When he was finished, he could almost touch the joyful pulse of energy coming from the two bots. Jetfire and Jetstorm looked at each other, their optics brightening up, the residual fear in the company of which they spent most of their time since activation being replaced by incredulous exhilaration.

"...now, listen to some wisdom from a more experienced bot. When it comes to spark-merging, there's only one word of advice I can give you, and that's: take things slow. You should relax, take your time to build the mood, and..."

The twins tackled each other in a tight hug, falling down behind the berth and rolling over the floor. There was the sound of panels clicking open, and the next nanoclick the room was filled by their combined glows.

Jazz stared, jawpiece hanging slightly open, then he shook himself, stood up and made a hasty retreat for the door. As the automatic panel slid shut behind his back, he caught a last glimpse of the twins faceplates, a huge, grateful grin directed to him, before they both lost themselves into each other

Smiling to himself, the ninja walked away, leaving the twins to their much awaited bliss.

_FIN._


End file.
